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Chat with my old manager made me rethink networking events

Ran into my old manager from the marketing firm I worked at in Chicago last week... she said she stopped going to big networking mixers years ago because they're just "business card dumps." She said she gets better leads from three focused coffee chats a month than from a hundred handshakes at a hotel ballroom. Made me wonder if I should ditch the next Chamber of Commerce meetup in favor of actually reaching out to a few people I respect. Has anyone else tried switching from large events to small one-on-ones?
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tessawebb
tessawebb3d ago
Heard a similar story from a friend who runs a small design studio. She swapped out big industry happy hours for just two lunch meetings a week with people she actually wanted to learn from. Six months later, she landed three new clients from those casual chats, none from the events she skipped.
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paigewood
paigewood3d ago
Business card dumps" is exactly right, I quit those years ago.
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